Costco on Thursday surpassed Wall Street's quarterly expectations as its sales rose 8.2% year over year.
The warehouse club does not share a full-year outlook. The company is expected to share more details about the quarter during an earnings call, which starts at 5 p.m. ET.
Here's how Costco did in its fiscal first quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Â $4.50 vs. $4.27 expected
- Revenue: $67.31 billion vs. $67.14 billion expected
Costco has attracted new members and higher sales at its clubs and online as U.S. consumers across incomes seek value while shopping for groceries, household essentials, holiday gifts and more.
Along with its warehouse club competitors, Costco has gained traction with younger customers who are signing up for memberships. Costco has also benefitted from a membership fee increase in the U.S. and Canada, which took effect in September 2024, and kicked in as new members signed up or as existing customers' renewed their annual memberships when they lapsed.
In the three-month period that ended Nov. 23, Costco's net income rose to $2 billion, or $4.50 per share, from $1.80 billion, or $4.04 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue increased to $67.31 billion from $62.15 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Comparable sales, an industry metric that takes out the impact of one-time factors like store openings and closures, increased 5.9% in the U.S. and 6.4% across the globe. Digital sales jumped by 20.5% year over year.
As a warehouse club, Costco relies on membership fees to boost its revenue and help keep the price of its items low. With higher tariffs, however, the retailer has dealt with rising costs. About a third of Costco's U.S. sales come from imported goods.
On an earnings call in September, Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip said Costco has looked for ways to reduce the impact of the duties, including introducing new items from its private-label brand, Kirkland Signature, as an alternative to goods hit by tariffs and swapping out categories or items to ones that aren't as exposed to steep tariff costs.
In late November, Costco sued the Trump administration to get a full refund of new tariffs that it has paid so far this year and to block those import duties from being collected from the company as it waits for a Supreme Court ruling on the duties.
As of Thursday's close, Costco's shares have declined nearly 4% so far this year. That trails the S&P 500's 17% gains during the same period. However, over the past five years, Costco's stock has jumped by 141%. The company's stock closed at $884.48 on Thursday, bringing its market value to $392.67 billion.
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